Primary angle closure glaucoma: a descriptive study in Scottish Caucasians

Abstract

The aim of this study is to describe the ocular and demographic features of Caucasian patients newly presenting with primary angle closure glaucoma and the proportion of workload it represents at a tertiary university hospital glaucoma service. A retrospective case notes review was conducted for all Caucasian patients newly diagnosed with narrow angles, primary angle closure, acute primary angle closure and primary angle closure glaucoma that were seen over a period of 2 years. Demographic and ocular variables were compared and statistical analysis was carried out with the paired t-test and chi-squared test. Number of primary open angle closure glaucoma and acute angle closure cases were compared with total number of new referrals to the department, new patients diagnosed with glaucoma and population numbers for the North East of Scotland. One hundred and four patients were analysed. Twenty-four (23.1%) had narrow angles, 30 (28.8%) had primary angle closure and 50 (48.1%) had primary angle closure glaucoma. Twelve (11.5%) presented with acute primary angle closure. There was no significant difference for gender, age, hypermetropia or visual acuity between groups. Primary angle closure glaucoma constituted 22.9% (50/128) of newly diagnosed glaucoma cases. Based on the 2001 Scotland census, the crude annual incidence of newly diagnosed primary angle closure glaucoma was estimated at 14.8 per 100 000 and 3.6 per 100 000 for acute primary angle closure in the over-45-year-old population. Our study confirms that primary angle closure glaucoma is uncommon in Caucasians, but not as rare as originally perceived as it makes up a fair proportion (22.9%) of glaucoma workload.